A Sugar Rush Love Story
by Crumbelina's Sweet Admirer
Summary: Gloyd had loved Vanellope his whole coded life. When she becomes a glitch, the others tell him to forget about her. But, it's hard to forget the one you love. Will he be able to rekindle his love for her? Pairings include Strawberry Butter and Vanilla Pumpkin. I do not own Wreck-It Ralph or its characters. Rated T in some chapters for violence and foul language.
1. What Happened Years Ago & The Aftermath

(15 Years Earlier, Sugar Rush, Litwak's Arcade)

Gloyd Orangeboar, the Halloween-themed racer, was walking around the Candy Tree Forest on his way to the castle, thinking of Vanellope. He loved Vanellope more than anything and it felt like the two had a special bond. Today, he was going on a picnic with her at Lemonade Lake.

He thought about Vanellope all the time, and hung out with her when she wasn't needed at the castle or when she wasn't busy. They had planned this picnic for weeks, and he wasn't going to put it off any longer. He would finally get a chance to spend time with her today.

He finally arrives at the castle and goes up to the door, knocking on the door. Sour Bill answers the door and looks up at the pumpkinheaded racer. "Mmmmm...how can I help you, Mister Orangeboar?" he asks in his usual monotone voice.

"May I please see the princess?" Gloyd asks, smiling politely.

"The princess can't come out today, Mister Orangeboar. She's doing royal duties and can't be disturbed. But if you insist on seeing her, I'll see if she can accept visitors." Sour Bill says as he scurries off to the throne room, leaving Gloyd at the castle doors. "Princess Vanellope?"

"What is it, Bill? Can't you see I'm doing my royal work here?" Vanellope says, looking at Sour Bill.

"Gloyd is here to see you, Your Highness." Sour Bill says, looking at Vanellope. "Can he come in?"

"Very well, send him in, Bill." Vanellope says as she looks back down at the new laws that had to be approved.

Sour Bill nods and sends Gloyd in.

"What brings you here, Gloyd?" Vanellope asks Gloyd, who's holding a basket in his hands.

"We made plans to have a picnic at Lemonade Lake today, remember?" Gloyd asks her. Vanellope gasps and looks at her planner.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot!" Vanellope says, jumping up from her chair. "But..."

"But what?" Gloyd asks her.

"I have all this work that has to get done today and all these new laws that have to be approved...oh, that stuff can wait 'til later! I did make plans to spend time with you today after all!" Vanellope says with a smile on her face.

And with that, the two of them head off to Lemonade Lake.

Little does Vanellope know, today was also the day the game would have a new ruler, but she seemed oblivious to the news.

* * *

Turbo was wandering the game, looking for an opportunity to mess with the game's code. He then saw the princess walking out of her castle.

"Perfect..." Turbo says as he makes his way to the castle and lets himself in, looking for the code room. "This is the perfect opportunity to start fresh..."

His game had gotten unplugged and he lived in GCS for the past few years. He needed a fresh start and he figures Sugar Rush is the perfect place to do that. He finally makes it to the code room, managing to get the door open.

"Ah, the code, the lifeblood of the game..." Turbo says as he floats out into Sugar Rush's code mass. "Tracks, karts...ah, the racers..." he says as he scrolls through the group of racers' codeboxes. "Taffyta Muttonfudge...Swizzle Malarkey...Gloyd Orangeboar...ah, the ruler, Vanellope Von Schweetz..." he says, grabbing the wires that kept her codebox in the code mass. "You're just a kid, you vanilla pipsqueak...let's see how you like it when nobody remembers who you are..."

And he yanks every cord that kept Vanellope's codebox attached to the code. He replaces it with a bigger code box labeled "King Candy" and puts it in place of Vanellope's code box, shoving Vanellope's code box out into the code room abyss, leaving it abandoned as it shoots sparks to show that it's glitching. Then he locks up all the racers' and citizens' memories, laughing a cruel laugh.

* * *

At Lemonade Lake, Vanellope was enjoying her time with Gloyd, until she feels a disturbance running through her code.

"What the..." Vanellope says, standing up and poking herself, feeling the fresh glitch rippling through her body. "What happened to me?"

At that very moment, the newest ruler of Sugar Rush, King Candy, pulls up in the Royal Racer, along with all the other racers.

"What are you doing hanging out with that _Glitch_?" Taffyta asks the pumpkinheaded racer.

"Glitch?" Gloyd replies as he looks behind him, seeing Vanellope glitching and crying.

"As you can see, Gloyd, Vanellope is a glitch now." Rancis explains. "She's an accident waiting to happen, and she's a mistake, never meant to exist."

"What are you talking about?" Gloyd asks, confused.

"No time to explain, dear boy! Hoo, hoo! Come, everyone, it's time to race for a spot on the roster!" King Candy says as all the racers except for Gloyd cheer.

Everyone drives off to the Royal Raceway, Gloyd driving off behind them, wondering what could have happened.

* * *

(Sugar Rush, 15 Years Later)

The Sugar Rush racers were having the roster race to determine the next day's roster as the game's number one racer, Taffyta Muttonfudge, was hoping for another first place finish, while Gloyd Orangeboar, who was close behind her in second place, was hoping for a win.

It had been hard on him since that day 15 years ago.

Since King Candy started ruling Sugar Rush, he had missed Vanellope. But it was now against the law to associate with the glitch. The only time he ever sees Vanellope is when him and the other racers go and torture her. And he has to realize that he's never going to be able to see her in the same light he saw her in 15 years ago.

Gloyd speeds ahead of Taffyta, who looks at him, shocked that he got ahead of her.

"Hey! Come back here, you pumpkinhead!" Taffyta shouts at Gloyd, who was already close to the finish line.

"Oh, I don't think so, Taffy-breath!" Gloyd yells as he throws his Pumpkin Bombs out of his kart, blowing Taffyta up and leaving her in fifth place, which still earned her a spot on the roster, but didn't earn her a trophy.

Gloyd wins first place, but tonight's race held specific meaning for him. Confetti falls all around him as he makes his way to the winner's circle.

"Congratulations Gloyd Orangeboar on your 100th Sugar Rush Roster Win!" the announcer yells as a picture of Gloyd holding his 100th win trophy along with a caption that says "Hardcore Candy Achievement Earned- Congratulations Gloyd Orangeboar on 100 Roster Wins!" scrolls across the screen in golden yellow letters.

The crowd cheers as Gloyd raises his trophy high into the air while Taffyta folds her arms and pouts.

"I WAS SO CLOSE!" Taffyta says, throwing a tantrum.

"Well, Taffyta, the better racer did win, and in this case, Gloyd won." Rancis says matter-of-factly.

"Shut up, buttercup!" Taffyta grits her teeth and watches the awards ceremony go on with a scowl on her face.  
-

"So, dude, how do you want to celebrate this big achievement? I mean, you're the _first_ one to reach Hardcore Candy! I'm only at 80 races, so I'm obviously envious..." Swizzle says, patting the Halloween racer's back as he smiles brightly.

"Well, could we just go out for drinks at Tapper's?" Gloyd asks Swizzle.

"Of course, Gloyd. Anything for my best friend in the whole arcade!" Swizzle says, smiling as he jumps back in his kart.

"Last one to the game's exit is a rotten Cadbury Creme Egg!" Gloyd says, grinning.

"Oh, it's on!" Swizzle says as he starts his kart.

The two boys race off to Sugar Rush's exit, laughing all the while.


	2. Getting An Achievement Isn't Worth This

As Swizzle and Gloyd park their karts at the game's entrance and walk into the bustling hub of Game Central Station, the two boys head toward Tapper's, talking the whole way there.

In Sugar Rush, there were rules you had to follow. King Candy said they could go anywhere in GCS, but said you have to go out into GCS in pairs or in a group and you have to be back at reset time, which was the time all the racers had to be home in order to recharge for the next day's races.

They also couldn't associate with the glitch at any time. But Gloyd, being the rebel he is, breaks that rule. He misses Vanellope and will do anything to be near her, even if it means getting caught and even if it means missing a roster race or two.

Another rule was that if you were caught helping the glitch, you would be firmly dealt with. Gloyd had tried helping Vanellope enter countless roster races, and had gotten caught twice when he was seen in the kart bakery with her, trying to make karts for her. To Gloyd, getting caught didn't matter as long as he could see Vanellope. When he broke this rule, he was beaten mercilessly with peppermint paddles on his bare behind. The beatings didn't bother him. He took the beatings for Vanellope's sake.

The other rule he broke is "Don't go into GCS alone." He would often go out into GCS by himself and see some of the various video game characters walk by. When he got back to the game, he was always caught by Taffyta, Rancis, and Candlehead, and he was ratted out to King Candy, who would throw him in the Fungeon.

According to Gloyd, the rules King Candy made were lame. He associated with the glitch, and there was no punishment horrible enough to stop him from doing so.

* * *

At Tapper's, the two boys take a seat in one of the booths after getting two root beer floats.

"Dude, I heard King Candy's gonna give you an achievement party…why bother? You're not one to attend your own parties, even if it was for your own birthday." Swizzle says, taking a sip of his root beer float.

"You got that right. You wanna just go to your house and hang out or something?" Gloyd asks Swizzle.

"I don't know, Gloyd. Should we just go to this party, even if it's something the king is trying to drill into our codes? And how do we know it isn't something he did for himself?" Swizzle asks Gloyd, a skeptical look on his face and his grayish-purple eyes looking into the pumpkin boy's chestnut brown eyes with a look of fear.

All the parties King Candy threw for the racers were often for his own personal gain to get the racers to like him, and the racers made it an option to attend these parties or skip them. But sometimes, the parties were just traps to get them to listen to his ramblings about how the game needed to be better. That's what Swizzle and Gloyd feared the most about these parties: King Candy's lectures.

"We shouldn't go, Swizz. You and I both dread these parties more than I dread a prank going wrong." Gloyd says and holds the swirl pop boy's hand. "We aren't going to that party. I know King Candy throws these parties to get on our good sides. I'll never like him, no matter what he does."

Swizzle smiles for the first time that night.

The two boys finish their root beer floats, then grab their kart keys and leave.

* * *

When the two boys arrive back in Sugar Rush, they arrived just in time for "reset time", which meant they were to be home now.

The two boys head into Gloyd's house, which is located deep in the Sugar Skull Catacombs, and looked like a haunted house, but it had intricately decorated sugar skulls on the porch along with the mellowcreme pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, orange paint adorned the door frame, and the fence was made with peanut brittle of all shapes and sizes.

The two boys go into Gloyd's house and crash on the living room couch, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Meanwhile at the castle, most of the racers were at the party, chatting among themselves.

"Where's Gloyd? This is _his_ party!" Jubileena asks Rancis, who was looking in the mirror for the tenth time since the party started.

"Ehhhh, I don't know, Jubes. All I know is he might be out celebrating in his own way, maybe." Rancis says as he walks off to find his girlfriend.

The party was being held in one of the best ballrooms in the castle, set up with fancy decorations, all pumpkin orange and chocolate brown, along with handmade streamers made from black licorice. Fancy buffet tables held lots of colorful candies and sweet treats, even a Kernel-shaped cake with a mini Gloyd figure inside it. A banner is hung in the middle of the room that says "Congratulations, Gloyd Orangeboar, On The Hardcore Candy Achievement!". All the racers and citizens had been invited to attend this party. But the only people missing were the guest of honor and his best friend, Swizzle.

"The party started 30 minutes ago! Where could Gloyd be?" Adorabeezle asks Snowanna.

Snowanna leans into her ear and whispers, "Maybe he decided not to come."

"You think?" Adorabeezle whispers back.

"I don't think, Beezle. I know." Snowanna whispers in reply. She then grabs another bowl of rainbow sherbet, finishes it quickly, and leaves for the Sugar Skull Catacombs.

* * *

Gloyd wakes up on his couch an hour later, hearing a knock on the door. He stands to his feet, then answers the door, finding Snowanna standing on his front porch.

"Snow! What are you doing here?" Gloyd asks, surprised.

"I know you're not gonna go to that party." Snowanna says, looking at Gloyd. "I know what King Candy was planning to do…"

"What was he gonna do?" Gloyd asks Snowanna, a bit curious.

"He was gonna wait until you got there, then he was gonna send the CLAW team after the glitch, and he was gonna let her see you. But what Vanellope wouldn't know is that the party was gonna be a trap to get suggestions for torturing her!" Snowanna says to the pumpkin racer, whose eyes are wide with shock. "Are you glad you didn't go?"

"Boy, am I ever glad I didn't go to the party, Snow. That tyrant was only getting me to try and torture the love of my life." Gloyd says, tears in his eyes. "He's not gonna get away with this!"

"I knew the party was going to be a ploy in the first place." Swizzle says, sitting up on the couch, his shoes off and his jacket wrapped around his legs. "What can we do?"

"The only thing I know to do is figure out why King Candy wants Vanellope to suffer through these tortures." Gloyd says, a bit angry inside. Nobody tried to hurt the love of his life, even if she was a glitch.

He vowed to get his vengeance and his girlfriend back. At this point, he didn't care about what the king had to say about Vanellope. He just wanted to save her and make her a racer again, even if it meant he would have to be punished in the process.

No punishment is worth it. Not even if you were on a mission to get your vengeance. And that's what Gloyd's thoughts said to him as he made a plan to interrogate the king tomorrow morning before the arcade opened.


	3. A Painful Interrogation

**Author's Note: All the Snowanna and Swizzle interactions in this chapter are non-romantic, so don't get the idea that they're a couple. And at this point in the story, Swizzle and Snowanna have sided with Gloyd, so make sure you're aware of that when reading this chapter.**

* * *

The next morning, Gloyd sat up on his couch and yawned. Snowanna and Swizzle had stayed the night to ensure Gloyd had gotten enough sleep, with Snowanna sleeping in Gloyd's armchair and Swizzle sleeping on Gloyd's couch.

The two of them were still asleep when Gloyd woke up, so Gloyd went to the kitchen and made pumpkin spice pancakes and chocolate milk for the three of them. Swizzle wakes up and joins Gloyd in the kitchen, looking wide awake.

"So, what's the plan, pumpkinhead?" Swizzle asks Gloyd as he eats a bite of his pancakes.

"My plan is to interrogate that tyrant, and see Vanellope today, risking whatever punishment I'm given. I've been thinking of a plan since we all went to sleep last night." Gloyd replies as he takes a sip of his chocolate milk. "I've had it with everything that tyrant has done."

"I'm with you there, Gloyd." Snowanna says, walking into the kitchen and sitting at the table next to Gloyd. "King Candy has brainwashed us all. And he must be stopped."

"What she's saying, is that we're with you, Gloyd." Swizzle says, finishing his pancakes. "I don't care if I get punished, either. King Candy is a glorified asshole...I swear, he lost it the other day when I beat him by a fraction of a second. Why can't he learn that he can't win all the time?"

"I'll say!" Snowanna says, finishing her pancakes. "He got that way when I won the Grand Prix a year ago."

Gloyd gets up from the table and walks to the front door.

"The arcade opens in an hour, and we're all on the roster. We better get to the track." Gloyd says as he grabs his helmet and racing goggles from his coat rack, and nods to Snowanna and Swizzle, who grab their helmets and follow Gloyd as he walks out the door.

The three racers jump into their karts and drive off to the track.

* * *

At the track, the three racers encounter the king, who's leaning against his kart, waiting for the others to arrive.

"There he is...he makes me sick..." Gloyd says, glaring at King Candy. Swizzle and Snowanna stand behind Gloyd, ready to defend him in case things got ugly.

"Hey, your majesty! We have to talk! NOW!" Gloyd says as he walks up to him.

"Why, Gloyd, my boy, whatever is there to talk about?" King Candy asks the Halloween racer.

"You know good and well what there is to talk about, you sugar-coated tyrant!" Gloyd says, his brown eyes in angry slits.

"Oh, you mean the glitch, don't you? She missed you last night...and boy, did you miss the pinata at the party last night..." King Candy smirks. "She glitched and cried and begged for her life..." King Candy laughs as Gloyd just gets angrier.

"YOU LISTEN HERE, PILLOW PANTS! AND YOU BETTER LISTEN GOOD! YOU'RE HURTING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, AND WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO HER IS HURTING ME INSIDE!" Gloyd screams as he grabs King Candy by his jacket collar. "AND IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO LAY A HAND ON HER AGAIN, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!"

"How am I wrong, dear boy?" King Candy tries to free himself from Gloyd's grip, but Gloyd doesn't let him do so as he holds him tighter.

"You brainwashed us all!" Gloyd yells as he pulls a Pumpkin Bomb from his jacket pocket. "You tricked us into thinking Vanellope was a mistake!"

Swizzle follows suit as he pulls out a few of his Swirl Pop Fireworks that were used in his Swirl Pop Land Mines, holding King Candy's feet.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that she isn't!" Swizzle says as he lights the fireworks at the king's feet. Snowanna pulls a bottle of Sticky Slick out of the Fro-Cone, and walks over to where Swizzle and Gloyd are with King Candy begging for his life.

"Talk, your majesty…TALK!" Snowanna says as she opens the bottle of Sticky Slick.

"Why do you treat my girlfriend like crepe? Huh?" Gloyd asks as he rears his free arm back to throw the Pumpkin Bomb at the king. "Why do you treat her like garbage?!"

"Because, my boy, she's a glitch! She needs torture! She needs to know who's in charge!" King Candy explains. "She's just a mass of failed code! And if she gets hurt to the point where she dies, it'll make me feel like I've achieved my goal of making this game better."

That's when Gloyd completely lost it.

"OH, SO KILLING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE WILL MAKE THIS GAME BETTER?!" Gloyd yells as he throws the Pumpkin Bomb at the king, anger filling his code. "WRONG ANSWER!"

"Killing Vanellope won't make this game better! She isn't a mistake! We may know her as a glitch in your eyes, but in our eyes, she's somebody! Somebody who deserves a chance!" Swizzle says as the Swirl Pop Fireworks blow up around the king's feet, causing him to lose his shoes. "She's someone who deserves more of a chance than you do!"

"And if you think we're not going to stop you from hurting Vanellope, you're wrong!" Snowanna says as she pours the bottle of Sticky Slick all over King Candy, soaking his clothes in the sticky syrup. "You cause more harm than good in this game, you dark-hearted tyrant! And you trying to make sure Vanellope never races with us again is just something you wanted to do. YOU WANT HER DEAD!"

"Is it true?! HUH?!" Gloyd says as he angrily tackles the king, who is a sticky, barefoot, and pumpkin-coated mess.

"Yes, my boy, the glitch doesn't deserve to be alive…" King Candy says, still laying under the weight of Gloyd's body. "She doesn't need anyone to side with her…She won't be a racer, and she never will be a racer…"

Gloyd punches King Candy in the nose and looks at him with a look of pure anger.

"She deserves to be a racer as much as you do. And another thing…" Gloyd says as he hits King Candy again. "Stop whining when you don't win. Welcome to the REAL WORLD, you dark-hearted tyrant!"

And with that, Gloyd gets off the king, and follows Snowanna and Swizzle to the starting line to start the day's races.

* * *

After the arcade closed that day, Gloyd, Snowanna, and Swizzle skip the roster race to see Vanellope in Diet Cola Mountain. Gloyd is more than determined to tell her about what the king really plans to do to her.

"Hey, Gloyd, what brings you here?" Vanellope asks Gloyd, who's accompanied by Swizzle and Snowanna.

"We know what King Candy plans to do to you, and it ain't good." Snowanna says. "Tell her, Gloyd!"

"Well, the king wants you to die. He wants to make sure you never try to race again." Gloyd explains as he holds Vanellope's hands.

"What? That's preposterous!" Vanellope says. "Racing's in my code, and I want to be a racer again, like you, Gloyd…"

"I know. And I have a plan to make sure you're a racer again." Gloyd says.

"What's your plan, Gloyd?" Swizzle says, skipping a chocolate pebble across the hot cola.

"We make her a kart, give her driving lessons, get her registered for the roster race, and make sure King Candy doesn't harm her." Gloyd says. "Even if it means spending time in the Fungeon, I want to make sure she's a racer like us again, and expose that tyrant for who he is!"

Snowanna and Swizzle nod in agreement.

"This plan will take us a few days to fully execute it. We can't do all this in one day." Snowanna says.

"Snow's right, pumpkinhead. We have to do one task a day." Swizzle says as he sits on one of the chocolate boulders. Swizzle tries to lean against a wall, but realized the boulder isn't against a wall, so he topples backwards into the Diet Coke. Swizzle jumps out of the hot cola, screaming.

"Hot cola! Hot, hot, hot!" Swizzle screams as he throws off his jacket and shirt, trying to ice down his burns with a popsicle ice pack.

"Be more careful next time, Swizzle…" Gloyd says, laughing a bit as he walks toward the exit. "Come on and let's go to your house. We'll start executing this plan tomorrow."

Swizzle nods and gathers up his jacket and his shirt, then follows Gloyd and Snowanna out of the mountain.

The three of them head to Swizzle's house, thinking about the same thing: Can they really make Vanellope a real racer again?


	4. Finding Kart Parts, Part 1

The next day, Snowanna, Swizzle, and Gloyd wake up in Swizzle's house, Swizzle sitting cross-legged on the couch and looking at a magazine, pondering over what he wants for his birthday.

"So, what's the plan, Swizz?" Gloyd asks as he joins him on the couch.

"Today, we take her to find parts to make a kart." Swizzle says, smiling.

"Good. Now, why are you looking at that magazine, Swizz?" Gloyd asks the swirl pop racer. "Is there something coming up for you? Something I obviously don't know about?"

Swizzle nods and looks at Gloyd. "My 12th birthday. Not like I really plan to make a big deal out of it or anything."

"We'll discuss your birthday plans later, Swizz. Right now, we better go and take Vanellope to find parts for making a kart." Gloyd says. Swizzle nods and hands out fudge dipped cookie dough bars for a quick breakfast, and they drive out to Diet Cola Mountain.

* * *

In Diet Cola Mountain, Vanellope was just waking up as Swizzle, Gloyd, and Snowanna arrive. She stretches and yawns, then goes to the cave's entrance.

"Morning, guys." Vanellope says, smiling.

"Good morning, Vanellope!" The three racers say as they smile at her. Vanellope's stomach growls as she greets the three racers. Gloyd offers her half of his fudge dipped cookie dough bar, and then the four of them gather by Vanellope's sponge cake bed.

"So, what are we doing today?" Vanellope asks as she takes a bite of her half of Gloyd's cookie dough bar.

"Well, today, we're going to find some spare parts to make a kart out of." Gloyd says to Vanellope.

"Why can't we just go and bake up a kart at the Kart Bakery?" Vanellope asks the three racers.

"It costs a lot of money to do that, Vanellope." Snowanna explains. "You need to pay about twenty coins out of your winnings, if you've ever won a race."

"TWENTY smackers?!" Vanellope cried, her eyes widening with pure shock. "No wonder everyone's karts have to be repaired by the royal mechanics. They have to be in top-notch condition during races."

"Exactly!" Snowanna says.

"Also, they don't allow glitches anywhere near the bakery." Swizzle adds, folding his arms.

"So, we're going to have to make a kart from scratch. And none of us have ever done that before." Gloyd says.

"Have you three ever made your karts from scratch?" Vanellope asks the three racers sitting before her.

"No, not exactly..." Swizzle says.

"Our karts came with us when the game was first plugged in." Snowanna says.

"You can say we've had our karts for a long time." Gloyd says, smiling.

"But where do we get the proper parts and tools to make a kart from scratch?" Vanellope asks the three racers.

"Well, we can get the parts from a few mini-games and some other places, too. I have the tools." Gloyd says.

"Neat! So where do we start?" Vanellope asks Gloyd.

"Well, we start at the Maize Maze for the engine block, and then we can get the wheels from The Wheel Deal Wheel Yard." Gloyd explains to Vanellope. "But the other parts, we're gonna have to find as we're going around Sugar Rush."

"Sounds legitimate enough." Vanellope says as she climbs off her sponge cake bed. "Shall we get started?"

"Indeed we shall!" Swizzle says, hopping into the Tongue Twister, followed by Snowanna jumping into her Fro Cone.

"Vanellope, you can ride with me. I have room in my Kernel." Gloyd says, smiling as he pats the seat next to him.

"Cool! I'm gonna get to ride in an actual kart! I can't wait to drive one again!" Vanellope says excitedly as she hops into Gloyd's kart.

"Okay, let's go!" Gloyd shouts as he drives out of the cave, Snowanna and Swizzle behind him.

* * *

Gloyd drives them out through a vast field, stopping his kart at the entrance to the Maize Maze, followed by Swizzle and Snowanna. A large candy corn maze stood before the four kids, and the entrance was guarded by a popcorn ball scarecrow dressed like a farmer. Crows made of black licorice fly over the maze, and a giant hourglass stands across from the entrance where the scarecrow is. Nearby was the engine ranch, where wild engine blocks roamed free.

"What are we doing here?" Vanellope asks Gloyd.

"Well, we're here to gather an engine for your kart!" Gloyd replied.

"Guh-DOI! I know what this place is!" Vanellope rolled her eyes "I don't see why we couldn't just take one of the engine blocks from that ranch instead of trying to win one in a mini-game!"

"Because you'll miss out on a very special engine!" a scratchy voice spoke up. The scarecrow farmer suddenly comes to life, flips into the air, and lands with ease. He laughs a joyful laugh, and looks at the four racers.

"I am Cornelius Cobb!" he announced. "Welcome to the Maize Maze!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know who you are and what this place is..." Snowanna says, rolling her eyes.

"Just tell us how to get the engine!" Swizzle says, folding his arms again.

"Well, I can see you kids are here for an engine, hmmm?" Cobb the farmer pulls and releases his suspenders with a snap, still looking at the four racers before him. "Well, there happens to be a very unique engine sitting in the middle of this very maze. It's got really high speed, superb acceleration, and lots of fighting spirit for serious racing! Perfect for an enthusiastic driver!"

"Sounds like an excellent engine." Vanellope says.

"So, do we have to go in the maze to get it?" Gloyd asks the scarecrow.

The scarecrow nods. "But it won't be that easy!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know...black licorice crows, wild uni-candy-corn chasing us..." Swizzle says.

"Let the engine hunt begin!" Snowanna says as she steps toward the maze.

"Very well. You have one minute to win the engine! GO!" Cobb says as he turns the hourglass upside down.

The four kids don't ask any more questions and hurry into the Maize Maze, going into four different directions.

* * *

After quite the experience inside the maze, Vanellope finally finds the engine with seconds to spare.

"Yes! I got it!" Vanellope says, jumping up and down.

The others smile at Vanellope as the four of them exit the maze.

"You finally beat the maze!" Cobb said cheerfully. "Congratulations! I hope your new engine is worth all the effort! Come again soon!"

"In his dreams..." Snowanna says.

"I'm never going there again." Swizzle says, sneering angrily at his jacket sleeve, which he ripped on a candy corn stalk.

Vanellope laughs and holds her prized engine close. She hops into Gloyd's kart, followed by the other two. They drive off as Cobb waves them good-bye.

"So, where do we go from here?" Vanellope asks Gloyd.

"We're heading straight to The Wheel Deal Wheel Yard." Gloyd replies as he keeps his eyes on the road. "We won't find any farmers or crows there, but there's lots of wheels and lots of ways to earn them."

As the three racers head to the wheel yard with Vanellope in tow, they don't realize that they're being watched.

"That glitch will never become a racer again...not while I'm around..." King Candy says as he watches from the highest point in the castle. "I'll be waiting for the day when that glitch enters a race...waiting and watching! Hoo hoo!"

The king laughs as he walks away from the window.


End file.
